Contents

History

Background

Nothing is known about Claude's life. Rockstar Games, however, has stated that by 2001, Claude is definitely a drifter, probably from the west coast, new to Liberty City, with no known family and that his surname may or may not be Speed.[1]

Events of GTA San Andreas

Racing with Carl Johnson

By 1992, Claude was as a top contender in an illegal racing ring and owned an abandoned garage in Doherty, San Fierro. He become involved with Catalina, who had recently split up with Carl Johnson, before racingCJ in a losing effort. Following the loss, he hands over his garage to Johnson, before leaving San Andreas with Catalina. The two head to Liberty City where they embark on a nine year crime spree ending with Catalina's betrayal.

The Yakuza

After destroying the Cartel freighter, a paranoid Salvatore attempts to kill Claude by having him enter a bomb-laden car. Salvatore's wife Maria, however, pages Claude and directs him to a small pier where the two meet Asuka Kasen, co-leader of the Yakuza, and flee to Staunton Island after Maria had told her husband that she and Claude were an "item". Asuka, unconvinced of Claude's loyalty, has him kill Salvatore Leone to prove himself, before having him kill a number of other people causing her problems. She later introduces him to her brother Kenji and Ray Machowski, a corrupt police man working for the Yakuza. Claude helps Kenji with his problems, including settling debts and freeing a man from prison, and helps Machowski in his attempts to remain unnoticed, eventually helping him flee the city by the airport.

Later Jobs and The Exchange

Claude continues to look for work and finds employment with King Courtney, who has him attack the Diablos before attempting to kill him on orders from Catalina, and Donald Love, who has him kill Kenji Kasen disguised as a Colombian Cartel gangster in a Cartel Cruiser to provoke a war. Asuka, unaware of Claude's role in her brother's death, launches an assault on a Cartel-controlled building site and begins to torture Miguel, co-leader of the Cartel, into giving away Cartel secrets. Armed with the information, Asuka sends Claude on various missions to hurt Cartel operations, including stopping the selling of and stealing a shipment of SPANK. Claude briefly finds employment with D-Ice, leader of the Red Jacks sub-sect of the Southside Hoods, and attacks the rival Purple Nines into defeat. Claude returns to the building site and finds that Asuka and Miguel are both dead, whilst a ransom note from Catalina, wanting $500,000 for Maria, is left for him.

What happened to Claude after the events of GTA III is completely unknown. Rockstar Games' official response in 2011, however, was that "He certainly isn’t dead. What else became of him, we don’t know".[2]

Personality

Claude is a calm and serious man who appears almost emotionless regardless of the situation, aside from a slight smirk and usually a glare, seemingly taking everything in stride. Provided he is paid for his services, he will take orders from his bosses without reluctance or complaint, usually giving a nod to show that he understands, and doesn't respond even when he is scolded or shouted at by his bosses for doing something wrong. He also prostrates to his bosses if required, in Kenji Kasen's case.

Ironically Catalina states that she betrayed Claude for his lack of ambition, and yet throughout the game, Claude works, kills and rises through the ranks of the Liberty City underworld, all just to get his revenge. Because Claude never verbalizes it, it's unclear if he has any true loyalty or respect to anyone. As long as he is paid and it will get him closer to getting revenge, he will work for, and kill, anyone, as evidenced by him killing Kenji Kasen. He even fights on multiple sides of gang wars, working for the Mafia, the Diablos, the Yakuza, and the Yardies, completely without hesitation and goes as far as to orchestrate a gang war between the Yakuza and the Columbian Cartel along with Donald Love.

It should be noted that when Claude does kill one of his former bosses, it's usually those who mistreat him or betray him like Kenji or Salvatore Leone, implying Claude doesn't take slights against him lightly, explaining why he is more than willing to kill them. His vindictive side is further evidenced when he coldly leaves Miguel to be tortured by Asuka Kasen, for his part in Catalina's betrayal. He does appear to at least have an amicable relationship with Asuka and Maria, since Asuka is willing to help Claude in his goal for revenge when she learns about Claude's history with Catalina.

For the vast majority of the game, Claude is taciturn and doesn't speak. He will only make a slight grunt when he is hurt, or an "Oh!" whenever he drowns, gets shot, run over, or when he falls down. He may also give passing vehicles the middle finger when crossing the road. There are moments where despite not talking, Claude will let his actions or behaviour speak for him, such as appearing taken aback and flinching slightly when Kenji yells at his face, or visibly reacting in surprise when Maria tells him that she told Salvatore that they slept together, the aforementioned leaving Miguel to his fate, and seemingly attempting to intimidate Carl Johnson when the latter has an argument with Catalina over a racing prize.

Claude remains true to his mission of finding and taking revenge on Catalina for leaving him for dead, even showing the slightest bit of pity for Maria when he allows her to live after freeing her and that saving her was at least part of his priorities, only to possibly kill her himself. It's also clear that Claude is primarily out for himself and will use people for his own ends or benefits until he no longer sees a reason to use them anymore; which more often than not ends with Claude killing them.

Appearance

Claude is a tall Caucasian male in his late twenties to early thirties. He has a muscular build with brown hair and a faint 5 o'clock shadow. He always wears a black bomber jacket with bronze zippers with a black T-shirt underneath, green cargo pants and blue sneakers. During Give Me Liberty, Claude wears a baggy orange prison jumpsuit with rolled-up sleeves.

In the PC version of GTA III, there is an alternate outfit consisting of a brown leather jacket, blue jeans, white sneakers and a brown mustache. Aside from that, Claude is the only 3D-era protagonist (except for Mike) that wears the same clothes throughout the entire game.

Claude's appearance in San Andreas is very similar, though he has a more youthful and detailed face. His clothes consist of a re-skinned black biker jacket with a black T-shirt, olive cargo pants and white and black sneakers.

Screenshots

10th Anniversary Screenshots

Trivia

The name "Claude" does not appear in Grand Theft Auto III. Other characters call him by his nicknames (similarly to Claude Speed, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto 2) and the menu lines refer to him as 'player'. However, in the ending cutscenes of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, when Catalina is phone calling the protagonist CJ, she shouts "Oh, Claude!" with background moaning, indicating Claude and Catalina were having sex. 'Claude' can also be found in the GTA III game files, suggesting it could have been planned to be in the main game. Lately, Rockstar used the name in many promotional releases related to previous games, such as the game's 10 years anniversary, which definitely confirmed that his name was indeed Claude.

"Rip Claude" is to the left.

In Grand Theft Auto IV, his and other 3D Universeprotagonists names are written on a wall of graffiti with "rest in peace" messages, suggesting they could all have died after the events in the 3D universe (or this may be also a reference to the end of the 3D era). According to Rockstar, this only served as a "little joke to [their] fans".

Even though he never speaks, he grunts in GTA III. It is unknown, however, who provided his grunts.

Also in Grand Theft Auto IV, if a player kills Playboy X and gains access to his safehouse, they will gain access Claude's clothes which can only be equipped at said safehouse.

Claude, and the GTA Online protagonist are two of the few characters in the GTA series who do not speak (if you don't count any of the optional protagonists from the 2D Universe). This was a choice Rockstar Games made at the start of the development process, as they stated, "We had so many other problems to solve and this did not seem like a major issue." Having a silent protagonist would also help players identify with the character. However, there were rumors that Claude actually spoke in the beta GTA III trailer, saying "Get out of the car!"; Rockstar replied to the rumors that the brief voiceover was fake and was pulled from .RAW files from GTA 2.

Also, the original line was "Get out of the car, man!", but in the trailer, the word "man" was omitted.

In the opening cutscene of the game, at the first mission, "Give Me Liberty", (notably when he rounds the corner and finds Catalina pointing two pistols at him), Claude's face is notably different in the convoy and onwards (the difference can actually be seen in the gallery of this article). This is because he uses a different model and slightly different texture, likely a beta model.

In San Andreas, Claude is wearing substitutes for the bomber jacket, cargo pants and sneakers. He is wearing a biker jacket that is available from Victim, black hi-tops from ProLaps, and re-colored olive pants from Binco.

To celebrate GTA III's 10th anniversary on October 22nd 2011, Rockstar Games released an official Claude action figure in association with Sideshow Collectibles. The figure comes complete with both of Claude's outfits (his standard outfit and prison uniform), along with several weapons to pose him with. Only 1600 were produced, and by mid 2012 they officially sold out. Unopened sets can now fetch up to US$2000 on internet auction sites.

The Claude action figure looks different from his game look.

Going by the release date of the games, he is the first protagonist of the 3D Universe. Although chronologically, he is the last 3D Universe protagonist.